So on wednesday morning I woke nice an early, I was in bed by 9:30 so getting up early was easy to do. I packed up and headed out. I don’t really like to eat first thing in the morning so I figured I would stop in Langley where the Fraser Highway crosses the number 10. there is a Chapters there and a Starbucks. It took about an hour to get there but the riding was easy. Once I got to Starbuck’s I figured I could buy a map at the Chapters. I still didn’t have a map of BC yet and would be off the lower mainland map I had by the end of the day.
No problem thinks I, I’ll just buy a map at the Chapters…which doesn’t open for three more hours… Well I figured Chilliwack probably has a book store so I could buy a map when I get there. While I am sitting there drinking coffee this fellow, Don, starts asking me where I am going, how long I think it’ll take, you know the usual questions. Then he tells me about his cycling days and touring Australia and down the Oregon coast. When he found out I didn’t have a map of BC we ran out to his truck and grabbed his map and gave it to me! What a neat guy. Foolishly I didn’t get his address and I wish I had. He had been telling me about how his grandfather would give him maps from BCAA and he would mark his distance in yellow and pink highlighters, alternating each day to show the distance travelled, I would like to send him the map back with my distances marked on it.
So I bombed down the Fraser Highway to Abbotsford which is pretty easy riding. It is mostly flat and there is a decent shoulder on the road so you are not too close to traffic. I zig-zagged across the countryside avoiding the Trans-Canada as much as I could but in the end I needed to actually get on it and it wasn’t that bad. Trucks were very respectful and gave me lots of room, frequently pulling into the other lane. In fact the only bad ones are BMW owners. Don’t ask me why but they are the only ones who don’t seem to want to give me any space. Weird.
So after travelling through the farms and the smell of cows I made it to the base of the Hope-Princeton. I found a good campsite for the night and ate well in preparation for the mountains the next day. Apparently I was not prepared enough…
Statistics
Distance: 156 km
Average speed: 19.3 km
Top speed: 53.5 km
Total distance: 237km